Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves will today leads his Cabinet on a tour of the international airport under construction at Argyle.
He noted that next week will mark six years since actual construction began on the EC$652 million project, which is expected to be “substantially completed” by the end of this year, and operational by the middle of 2015.
Gonsalves told a press conference this week that various members of the Cabinet have visited the site before, but this visit will be a structured one.
He said his government is yet to receive some monies that have been programmed and this has slowed the progress of the airport “a little”.
There were some problems between two groups of developers in Canouan, resulting in them owing the government US$9.25 million from the sale of State lands.
Gonsalves, who is also Minister of Finance, said he has had offers from two persons in Canouan to buy the debt.
“… so that they will be in a position where they own that portion of these lands. And I am looking at both of the proposals,” he said, adding that the received one Monday morning via email.
The government is also awaiting disbursement of the final $10 million of a $40 million loan from the ALBA Bank in Venezuela.
“We should have gotten 5 of that 10 in July, but I haven’t gotten that yet. When I went down [to Caracas], I raised it. They are supposed to get back to me this week to tell me what’s happening,” Gonsalves said.
“I think there’s a holdup at their en; some bureaucratic issue. But, this is the point: even when the earmark the money there may be something which happens and you just have to make other contingency arrangements to cover meanwhile for us to get all the requisite resources,” Gonsalves said.
The silly season tour is on and the people of SVG can look forward to TV and Newspapers filled with video and pics of ‘pretty buildings’. On the above IWN photo, place your finger over the terminal building, built by Taiwan with Taiwan’s money, and you will see what all our $million$ have been spent on and make an estimate on the opening date.
I wonder why they are going to visit the site?
(a) to perform a wake or funeral for this stillborn project? Probably not since they may there is a faint enough heartbeat to win a fourth election.
(b) to pray for a Lazarus-like resurrection? Could be since enough Vincentians are so gullible as to believe in miracles.
(c) to announce the names of all the international airlines that have committed to flying to Argyle? Hardly.
(d) to bring out the media for a photo-op? The most likely explanation.
“The government is also awaiting disbursement of the final $10 million of a $40 million loan from the ALBA Bank in Venezuela.”
Lawd have mussy pan us. How much loans can SVG payback? the debt that we are in is just incredible and up to now you can’t see a thing done for that money. The country needs a proper audit before anything else can be taken place. SVG is going to end up just like Guyana at this pace, we have too much debt and high cost of living. Inflation killing Vincentians and still barrowing more money, well hear no partner there comes a time when those loans would have to be repaid and that’s when the real trouble starts. We have the PetroCaribe fuel that we have to pay for in the future, the same fuel that Vinlec is charging people for. This government is making Vincentians pay them for the fuel, and they are pocketing the money. Meanwhile we still have to pay for the same fuel that we pay for again.So we are paying twice for it., You ever hear more wickedness?
But the ULP don’t care as long as they win the election they will sink us to the bottom of the sea. The PM is always saying that he has a little longer to live so you know what that means? he doesn’t care, because he’s going to be in his grave smiling while Vincentians for generations are going to be catching their tail to pay back all the debt he racked up. I can’t believe you all watch this guy destroy our country and say nothing. Vincentians you all should be ashamed of yourselves.
The hype is to remove the past incidents that had Ralph on the political ropes. He wants to change the agenda, so he called up his lemmings to follow him to the airport. He wants to bring back the airport issue, because he feels he can handle it more easily than the corruption issue and the booing in his constituency. I hope the NDP lay off the airport issue because Ralph has dug his own political grave. This airport issue will take care of itself and by itself.
There is also the other Jomo issue that shows that the ULP is in disarray. The Central Leeward voters, including many ULP supporters dont like having Jomo parachuted into their constituency. They have made it clear they would not support him.
The NDP should steer clear of making outlandish statements and stick to the issues that people are talking about. If they want to know the issues, just ask the people to write, or phone in to talk shows to tell of their experiences. Many of the issues that people may have; will probably cover supporters from both parties. NDP doesnt have to recreate the wheel.
Why is everything so much about politics? One don’t have to agree with the prime minister, but look for the better of the country.
Building this airport is like Health Care in the US, 50% of the people like it and 50% are oppose to it.